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This is the second post in a series I am writing about the 2013 US Open. The event begins Monday, August 26 and the draw for the tournament was released yesterday. You can view the first post by clicking here.

I was surprised by several of the matches that could occur before the semifinals at this year’s US Open. In this post, I discuss some of the top players’ draws for this tournament.

The “Big Four” are going to be worth watching throughout this tournament because none of these champions have the easiest draw.

Here is a little speculation about how their draws may work out just to make it to the semifinals:

Djokovic [1] will probably have a bit of a test in the quarterfinals. In this round, Djokovic could potentially play former champion Del Potro [6] or Tommy Haas [12], who has been looking pretty good the last few months.

Novak Djokovic

Murray‘s [3] quarter looks to possibly be a little better than Djokovic’s, but he will likely have to defeat either Thomas Berdych [5] or Stanislas Wawrinka [9] to make it to the semifinals. They have all had a good years, and I would expect that to be an exciting quarterfinal match. In the semifinals, he would face the winner of Djokovic’s quarter.

Andy Murray

Nadal [2] and Federer [7] have ended up in the same quarter of the draw. This sets up a possible quarterfinal match between the two of them, but they will potentially face some tough opponents before they would even get to that point. Nadal could play either Nikolay Davydenko or Fernando Verdasco [27], who made it to the quarterfinals of this year’s Wimbledon, in the third round. In the fourth round he could be up against either big-serving John Isner [13] or Gael Monfils, who has had good results US Open. Federer may end up playing Sam Querrey [26] in the third round and then Tommy Robredo [19] in the fourth round.

Since Nadal and Federer might play each other, I have included a great video of them promoting a tournament:

Serena Williams

While the “Big Four” have been several consistent players at the top of men’s tennis lately, women’s tennis has had Serena Williams. Williams, the top seed in the women’s draw, is the defending champion at this year’s tournament. Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam (it was the US Open) in 1999, and she is still an extremely dominating force in women’s tennis.

I would expect Serena Williams to have a good tournament, but she may have the most interesting draw in this tournament. In the first round she will face Francesca Schiavone. Schiavone won the French Open in 2010. She has also made it to the quarterfinals of the US Open a couple of times. This is a first round match that will likely have the intensity of a match that would take place much later in the tournament.

If they can both make it through four rounds, the Williams sisters would battle it out in the quarterfinals. It’s a little unlikely because Venus Williams would possibly have to have three huge wins against Kirsten Flipkens [12], Carla Suarez Navarro [18] and then Angelique Kerber [8] for this match up to happen, but she has an amazing serve and I would not completely count her out of it

The US Open tennis tournament starts on August 26th. It will be the perfect compliment (and distraction) for the beginning of fall semester. I briefly talked about the US Open in my last post, but I thought I’d write a few posts to recap this year’s professional tennis and go into more detail about what I will be keeping my eye on at this year’s tournament.

In the first round of the Men’s Draw, Rafael Nadal [5], Stan Wawrinka [11] and Janko Tipsarevic [14] were among the five seeded players not to advance to the first round. The second round matches resulted in six more seeds exiting the tournament earlier than expected. Roger Federer [3], who has seven Wimbledon titles, went down in this round. Also, the tournament ended at this time for John Isner [18] and Marin Cilic [10] because of injury.

It’s hard to imagine, but the early rounds for the women at this year’s Wimbledon was even more unpredictable than the men. Sara Errani [5], Maria Kirilenko [10] and Nadia Petrova [13] were a few of the eight seeded players who did not make it past the first round. The second round was also not friendly to some of the top ranked players with an additional nine seeds exiting the tournament. Some of those seeds included well known players such as Victoria Azaranka [2], Maria Sharapova [3], Caroline Wozniacki [9], Ana Ivanovic [12] and Jelena Jankovic [16].

I may have gotten a little carried away with the Wimbledon information, but my point is that while it is easy to pass over the early rounds, these first couple rounds can be extremely exciting. You never know when a qualifier or an up-and-coming player will play the match of his/her life against a top player. These rounds are full of tennis that is passionate, exciting and fun.

Love

“Love” is not what a tennis player wants to hear on the court, but this has been a year that some players have gotten attention for it off of the court.

One of the most notable relationships involves Victoria Azarenka. The cameras have been on Azarenka on the court and they have also been on a notable (and easy to spot) guest in her box. Redfoo, of the music group LMFAO, has made several appearances at Azaranka matches. His hair and outfits make him hard to miss. What you may not know is that Redfoo enjoys tennis and tried to qualify for the U.S. Open. He will not be on the court, but may provide some entertainment at Azarenka’s matches and has been known to have appearances at press conferences.I will have another post up about the US Open in the next couple of days.

August may not mark the beginning of a new calendar year, but for whatever reason August has always felt like the start of a new time for me. This summer, I had the opportunity to be part of the APPLES service-learning internship program and spend time as a communications intern at the Chapel Hill – Carrboro Public School Foundation. It has been a great summer. My internship is coming to a close and a new semester will begin soon.

Lately, I have also been reminded of something else new August brings each year… sports.

Tennis

While tennis may not be what comes to many people’s minds when they think of sports in August, it’s what will probably always come first in my mind. In high school, the tennis team’s season started at the beginning of August. There was always something new and exciting about tennis at this time of year in high school, and even these past few years after high school there is still something about this month that makes me want to get on a tennis court.

Part of my interest in tennis may be because of the US Open, which starts at the end of August. Although it is the last Grand Slam of the year, I have always enjoyed watching the U.S. Open. It also does not hurt that the US Open is a little easier to watch because it is the only Grand Slam that takes place in my time zone.

This year’s tournament is going to be particularly exciting the men’s draw looks like it could be about as competitive as it has been in a long time. Djokovic, Nadal and Murray have all won a Grand Slam this year, and it is hard to guess who will win the U.S. Open title with Federer, del Potro and Tsonga also very much in the mix. The women’s draw is similar with three different Grand Slam champions this year coming into the tournament, and there are quite a few up-and-coming players that may have a huge impact on how the tournament plays out.

Football

Football teams also kick off their seasons this time of year. The NFL teams started their preseason games this weekend, and college and high school games will begin at the end of the month.

There is a lot of excitement with a new season. I am looking forward to being able to watch a few football games (particularly Tar Heels and Panthers) on the weekends for the next couple months as my “new year” begins.